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墨書 Inktalez
I feel quite emotional; top students are really different. Going abroad seems like a game to them. Unlike me, from middle school to university, I barely passed English a few times.
The most fluent English sentence I know is, "Can you help me?" or "Where is the restroom?"
And the most fluent English phrase is: "Oh yeah!"
It's truly embarrassing!
Among everyone, I'm the only one doing nothing. I don't want to live that nine-to-five life, every day as bland as drinking plain water, with no meaning at all. As long as I can get my diploma and go home to bring honor to my family, I'll be satisfied.
A few days later, Qin Senior Sister called me, saying she still couldn't reach Ma Rulong. She had already bought her train ticket and was preparing to go to Henan with Zheng Xuejie.
I said, "Wishing you a safe journey."
Qin Senior Sister asked, "Is that all?"
I thought for a moment and replied, "Bring me some local specialties."
"Go die!" she said.
After hanging up, I thought about it and called Second Uncle. It had been a few days since we last contacted each other, and I didn't know if there had been any progress on his side. When he answered the phone, Second Uncle's voice sounded a bit weary; it seemed the situation wasn't good.
Sure enough, after I inquired, he said that another Ajan had disappeared in the past few days. However, this time they had some preparation, so they found a little clue; the Azhans were currently investigating. I asked what the clue was, and Second Uncle said it was hard to explain in words; I should just watch the video.
After hanging up, he sent me a video clip. I opened it and saw a room filled with people. Most of them were dressed in black, each covered in tattoos and wearing various accessories. It was clear that these were all Ajan.
After the first Ajan disappeared, to prevent such situations from happening again, Second Uncle specifically had someone install surveillance cameras in the room. There were four in total, covering every corner of the room without any blind spots. This video was captured by one of those cameras.
In the video, the Azhans sat in a circle; this way, everyone would always be within each other's line of sight.
In the center of the Ajan Masters was a pile of bluish items. Although it was hard to see clearly, they were likely pieces of Blue Flower Ice Jade taken from their bodies. Clearly, the Azhans were studying the properties of this material.
At that moment, the video suddenly shook slightly. At first, I thought it was due to a collision with the surveillance camera, but soon realized that wasn't the case. Several Ajan being monitored showed signs of physical distortion. I couldn't help but gasp because the scene depicted indicated that space was vibrating.
Suddenly, an Ajan disappeared.
It was very abrupt, leaving no time to react. I only realized that the spot where he should have been was empty a few seconds after his disappearance.
The video continued to play, but there was nothing left to see; everything returned to normal, except for the astonished and confused expressions of the Azhans.
I was momentarily stunned and then replayed the video from the beginning. As the image distorted, I stared at it without blinking. That Ajan disappeared again, and this time, I still couldn't understand how he vanished. It was as if he disappeared at the moment the image distorted.
After watching several times, my eyes were sore from straining, and I still couldn't find any clues. I had no choice but to give up on my own investigation and call Second Uncle.
Second Uncle asked if I had finished watching the video. I said I had, but I didn't understand it.
He replied that it would be strange if I could understand it; they had been watching that segment of the video repeatedly for days without figuring it out.
I asked, "But you just said you had some clues?"
Second Uncle explained that what he referred to as clues were the anomalies in the footage. The distortion was clearly not a problem with the surveillance camera but indicated some kind of change in space. When this spatial change occurred, Ajan disappeared; there were not many possibilities that could cause such a situation. Second Uncle said their hypothesis was that a gap in space had opened up and sucked Ajan away.
However, why a spatial gap would appear in this room remained unknown.
More importantly, when the distortion occurred in the footage, none of the Ajans felt anything unusual, not even the other two Ajans who were also within the distorted area.
This indicated that the appearance of a spatial gap would not be perceived by humans; it belonged to another layer of change. The factor likely inducing this situation was probably the Azure Flower Ice Jade within them.
The Azhans speculated whether this jade could potentially create spatial changes, allowing people to enter and exit this place as if teleporting. They were researching this idea, trying to use the jade to prove their theory. If they could indeed control the appearance of spatial gaps, they could follow the clues to see what lay behind it all.
I felt a headache from what Second Uncle said; this matter was too absurd for an ordinary young person like me to contemplate.
Second Uncle told me not to overthink things here; he would definitely resolve it. This blind confidence served no purpose other than to comfort both me and himself. But I didn’t want to undermine him; who wouldn’t want to live with a bit more optimism?
After hanging up, I lay on my bed intending to rest for a while, but no matter how much I tossed and turned, I couldn’t fall asleep. My mind was filled with that bizarre scene. After struggling for a bit longer, I took out my phone intending to watch it a few more times; perhaps by watching more closely, I could find some clues.
While watching for the third time, Hu Xiaoyi suddenly popped out from wherever she had sneaked into the dormitory and snatched my phone away, exclaiming, “Let me see what you’re hiding! Is it some island country romance film? Hey, what is this? A documentary?”
I sat up and grabbed my phone back from her, annoyed as I said, “What are you shouting about? Can’t you be a little more discreet?”
Hu Xiaoyi pouted and said, "It's just a quick look, why be so stingy!"
I couldn't be bothered to explain. When I looked down, I noticed the video had just reached the distorted part. The angle was different from usual when the phone was snatched away; it was tilted a bit, making the image appear dark. Suddenly, I saw a shadow flash across the screen, as if a giant claw had grabbed an Ajan. Immediately after, the Ajan disappeared.
I was stunned and didn't even hear Hu Xiaoyi calling me for dinner. He came over and nudged me, asking, "What's wrong? Are you really angry? It can't be that serious!"
I had no interest in responding to him and quickly replayed the video. This time, I maintained the same angle as before. Sure enough, when it reached that segment again, I saw the very blurry, almost transparent shadow once more. It was hard to tell if it was a lighting issue or an unnatural distortion of the image; that giant claw looked very unreal. The more I watched it, the more I felt it was just a phenomenon caused by light refraction at that angle.
I spent the entire afternoon watching this video, making my eyes feel dry and swollen. Rubbing my eyes, I tossed my phone aside and decided to go out for a walk to clear my head before I drove myself crazy.
Once outside the dormitory, Hu Xiaoyi told me that everyone was talking about my situation with Mr. Lu. Some people thought Mr. Lu was being unreasonable, while others believed I was just lying. If something doesn't work, it doesn't work; why change just because of a few words from a client? It reminded me of a joke: a customer goes to a barbershop and asks for a haircut, then for his eyebrows to be trimmed, and finally asks for his throat to be cut but the barber hesitates. In the end, the customer refuses to pay and says he got his eyebrows trimmed. The barber replies, "But you asked me to do it!" The customer retorts, "Then why didn't you cut my throat when I asked?"
This joke is quite similar to my situation with Mr. Lu; it's both amusing and frustrating.
I wasn't interested in listening to those foolish discussions; they could say whatever they wanted. People have mouths of their own; I couldn't control them but could only manage my own ears and heart.
To relieve my stress, I dragged Hu Xiaoyi to a restaurant outside campus where we ordered a bunch of delicious food and even bought a bottle of wine. Hu Xiaoyi wasn't good at or fond of drinking; by the end of the meal, he had only taken a few sips while most of the bottle ended up in my stomach. By the time we returned to the dormitory feeling slightly tipsy, Hu Xiaoyi picked up his phone and said there were missed calls.
My body tends to get drunk quickly but also sobers up fast. Usually, I'd feel dizzy after five ounces of alcohol, but after a pound, I'd gradually start feeling clearer. So by the time we got back to the dormitory, I was already mostly sober.
I took his phone to check and found it was an unfamiliar number.
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